


Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

by ratchetxhide



Series: Bulkhead And Miko RPs [4]
Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Best Friends, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-11
Updated: 2014-06-11
Packaged: 2018-02-04 06:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1768648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ratchetxhide/pseuds/ratchetxhide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This takes place after TF: Prime. Miko is back in Japan and Bulkhead is on Cybertron. Both don't know how to handle being apart from each other well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is part 4 of a series of short stories that my friend and I have been writing. Part 1 was "Not Leaving You", Part 2 was "Mission Accomplished", and Part 3 was "Nightmare". Somethings that are mentioned in this reflect back to those, but it isn't required to read them first. Please enjoy!

Miko sat almost in tears as she loved on her cats Chi Chi and Ding Dong. Her phone was sitting beside her hooked up to her computer uploading all of her pictures. They were pictures of her time in America as an exchange student and of her time with the Autobots and Bulkhead. Those were the fun days when she didn't have to worry about school and could do what she wanted to. She smiled when she pulled up the first picture she ever took of Bulkhead. It was taken the first day she saw him after Optimus Prime told them about Megatron and how they were on Earth to protect them. Flipping through she saw the picture taken when she got on the 'Con ship with Jack and Raf, the picture of Wheeljack when he first came to Earth, and then one of her with Wheeljack and Bulkhead. They had become such great friends over the year and it pained her to look at how happy they were not even a year ago, but feel the sadness and pain of not knowing if she would ever see any of them again.

Feeling a tear fall down her soft cheek, she right clicked the picture and selected the option to set it as her background picture. At least if she couldn't see them in person, she could see them in a picture. But it still didn't make up for it. She rather have gone with them to Cybertron and left her entire life and identity behind than stay on Earth without the possibility of even talking to them. And to make things worse, she was back in Tokyo which meant she couldn't even go down to the current base that Ratchet runs and even see him.

Wiping her tear away, she flipped to the next picture. Seeing it made her heart sink. She had come running out of the school that day with a piece of paper in her hand. It was her English test that she happened to past with a B. Bulkhead was excited for her and that evening they went to Yosemite National Park in California. The lake where they stopped had been beautiful, she wouldn't dream of passing up the opportunity to take a picture. Taking a minute to close her eyes, she felt more tears falling from her face. This time she knew she couldn't stop them. She missed Bulkhead so much and all the pictures and memories weren't helping. Slowly she wiped her eyes as dry as she could before opening them and putting her computer down. She couldn't do it anymore. Picking up Chi Chi, she pulled her covers up and laid down. Holding her calmest cat close to her she cried herself to sleep thinking of all her memories with her best friend that she would probably never see again.

Bulkhead let out a deep sigh as he stood on a tower that looked over the horizon. The sun was barely just rising, and the big lug had finally managed to get away from the group long enough to have some time to himself. He mainly used whatever time he could get to just think. He thought about the war and how it had finally ended. He thought about the planet the last few years of the war was fought on, and he thought about its inhabitants. One in particular stuck out to him. His charge, his best friend on Earth, the one who stuck with him since the day she had first been taken to their base.

He remembered how she had been in so much shock and awe the moment she saw him. How she ran right up to him and began to fire questions at him like he had never seen before. For some reason, he had been so drawn to her. He remembered how they had many awkward moments in the beginning, but once they had found things in common about each other, they became inseparable.

He remembered how strong she was on the outside, and how he saw that barrier become withered and weak when she was terrified. He knew she had been insecure about showing that side of her, but once she let him in, she basically let him in on everything about her.

That was what stung the worst. Just knowing that he was billions of miles away from the one person he cared about the most in the moment, it killed him. He thought about her every single day, and he had a feeling deep within his spark that she was experiencing the same sort of daily pain as he was. He knew she missed him because he missed her so much it hurt sometimes. Just going through that last goodbye hurt as much if not more than the time he nearly had his whole backside blown off.

He had always hated seeing her cry, whether it was from fear or anger, he hated it. The only time he accepted it was when she was happy, but other than that, he despised hearing her cry. If he had the ability to cry, then pride be damned he would be crying at that moment. It was far too much for him to bear. The weight of the loneliness and the emptiness he felt in his spark was just too much. It was all too much. He knew he had other duties, but they had to understand the pain he was going through. He knew Bumblebee understood it, and he knew Arcee understood it, even though she probably didn't want to show it very much. It was settled. He had to go visit her.


	2. Chapter 2

Miko rolled over and looked at her alarm clock that was practically screaming at her to get out of bed and ready for school. Chi Chi and Ding Dong were sleeping at the foot of her bed without a care in the world and sometimes she wish that could be here. Today was one of those days. Hitting the dismiss button, she pulled the covers down careful to not disturb her sleeping beauties. Once she was sure she could get out, she stood and stretched and looked at her closet. She wore one of her favorite outfits for most of her trip to America, but decided that today she would wear something different. Moving over to flip through her closet, she came across one that she forgot to bring to America with her. Picking it up, she looked at the uneven, multi-layered skirt. The six layers of fabric went from a spider web-like, black material on the bottom covered by a shorter solid black layer. The third layer of fabric was even short that the black, but was a red and black with a touch of white plaid. The fourth layer was the spider web material again but was titled so that the right side of the fabric came down as low as the first layer and the left side was the highest so far. It was covered by a layer of black in the same pattern, but again shorter than the previous layer and the last layer was a small piece of plaid that didn't even go all the way around her. The amount of safety pins and chains that were added to the skirt were unbelievable for anyone who wasn't accustomed to punk culture and clothing.  
Taking a moment, she pulled on her spider web leggings and her skirt before reaching into her closet and pulling out her favorite part of this outfit, the top. Even with her top being very simple compared to the skirt, it added so much. It was solid black with cap sleeves. On the edge of the sleeves was a spider web lace to add just the right touch. The lace also went across the top of the bust line, which happened to be a slight sweetheart style. Where the sleeves and neckline met, it moved to into a collar with white embroidered crosses on each side. The collar moved around to the back, but left it open like the front. To top it off, it came with a red tie with black spider web print. It had three safety pins attached to the upper left side which held more chains. The chains swooped down to the right side when a silver skull pendant held them and let them dangle down to almost the end of the tie where a red cross pendent hung at the end. It didn't take Miko long to pull the top on at well and her signature boots. This time she changed the laces to red to match her outfit.

She didn't wear this outfit too often, but it had to be one of her favorites. Moving to the bathroom, she put toothpaste on her toothbrush as she started to brush her teeth. She wasn't in the mood to put a lot of effort into getting ready like she did in America. Hopefully she would start to relax and get back into the swing of things, but something told her that no matter what happens, the only thing that will put her into a carefree mood like she was use to was the return of Bulkhead and/or the Autobots, or the chance for her to go to Cybertron and never come back. As she finished brushing her teeth, she put her toothbrush down and started to brush her hair. Brushing her bangs in front of her face, she started to part her hair that she pulled up. This had become second nature to her after doing it for so long. Pulling half of her hair into her hands before putting it into a hair bow. Grabbing the other part of her hair, she put it up as well and grabbed her styling gel. Putting some in her hands, she ran it through the ponytails to playfully spike them out. She looked into the mirror, making sure that it looked decent, before washing her hands and pulling the last bit of her hair into a loose ponytail that hung down her back.

Taking one last look in the mirror, she made sure that her appearance was decent. It was at least good enough to pass for the day. She sighed softly before making her way out of her bathroom and into the kitchen where her parents sat silently eating their breakfast. They usually didn't say much to her in the mornings, especially since she came back to Japan. They didn't know what was up, but they knew that she wasn't as happy as she use to be. As the days turned into weeks and the weeks passed by, she grew less sociable. They seemed to accept the fact that America had changed their daughter in a way that probably wasn't the best. Miko grabbed an apple and a bottle of water as she left the kitchen and walked out the front door.

Stopping at the door, Miko put her apple and water down for a moment while she pulled out her black iPod Touch she had bought while in America. Putting on her headphones, she pushed play and listened as her headphones filled with the sounds of guitars and drums. It was the music that she loved. She picked up her apple and water again as she took a bite and headed off to catch the city bus that would take her to her school and her boring life.

Miko sat silently looking at her book that just sat blankly open. Her friends were all around her and chatting while the teacher was out, but for the most part she could care less. Life felt strange back here.

"Hey Miko, are you alright? Normally you love it when the teacher leaves the room, you never stop talking... You seem a little too quiet.. What's the matter?"

Normally Mai was someone who didn't like to show compassion, but when it came to Miko, she was always making sure she was doing alright. Ever since she had returned from America, she noticed she was acting a bit different, and she didn't like the kind of different she was acting. Something was wrong, and she knew it.

"Yeah, I am fine," she said softly knowing that Mai would probably pick up on it.

She really didn't want to worry her with her issues and she knew that she couldn't tell her about the Autobots or Bulkhead. Her best bet if anything came up would be to say that she made some really good friends that she missed.

"...That didn't sound like the Miko I'm used to, but whatever. If you need to talk about it, you know you can talk to me." she replied, deciding that if Miko didn't want to talk about it that it would be a bad idea to further push her.

"All I can say is that I made some really, really good friends over there and I miss them greatly," she said thinking about Bulkhead and almost tearing up again.

"Oh, I understand. I know what it's like to have to move away from people you've known for a long time. It gets easier." she said, glancing up at the clock for a moment. "Hey, teacher hasn't come back yet and there's only 5 minutes of class left. I wonder what's taking him so long... I'm gonna pack up."

"How can it ever get easier? There is a huge chance that I may never see or even talk to him again?" Miko said as she started to put her books in her bag along with her notebooks.

"Didn't you guys exchange Facebooks or something? Phone numbers?" she asked, giving her a confused look. She then began to close up her notebooks filled to the brim with notes and sketches before stuffing them into her backpack.

"I wish," she said thinking about the idea of Bulkhead having a Facebook. "He doesn't even have a phone so what would be the chance of him having a Facebook?"

With that, she closed up her last notebook which contained all her sketches of the Autobots and Bulkhead along with Arcee and the others. Sighing softly, she put it in her bag before wiping away the single tear that was threatening to fall.

Either she didn't notice or was just deciding to ignore it if she did, Mai finished putting her things away and stood up to line at the door with everyone else. "Well, I hope you feel better soon. I miss the old Miko."

Bulkhead was wearing the biggest grin he had worn in a long time. He had gotten the okay to make a visit to earth, and had just finished his journey through the spacebridge, arriving right in Japan. Once he had arrived, he had made his way up to a cliff side to just stand and take in the sight of the planet again after having been away for so long. Luckily for him, the cliff was rather secluded and posed little risk of being seen.

He remembered the name of the school that she told him about barely, and figured that if he wanted to get there in time, he had to act fast. He had been bridged to the proper city, but he still had to find the school.

After a somewhat lengthy drive through a fair amount of traffic, Bulkhead finally found himself parked right in front of the school. Now all he had to do was wait for her to discover him.

With only two minutes to go, their teacher, Sensei Keitaro, walked in with a stack of papers and started to hand one to each student.

"Sorry about taking so long. These go over your next project that will be due in two weeks time. Read over it and we will discuss it more tomorrow. Depending on your project, I may allow you to work as a team of two to do this. Enjoy the rest of your day, class."

With that, the bell to dismiss everyone for the day chimed.

The massive green truck remained still for the most part as children poured out of the school to be reunited with their families or to board busses. Some of them stopped to gasp in awe at the sheer size of his alt mode, and he had to refrain from chuckling as a faint memory of Miko wearing that very same expression when they first met ran through again.

A rush of excitement ran through him. He was eager to see the shock on her face when she saw him, to feel the emotion of the reunion. He wanted to see her smile, to hear the happiness and joy in her voice. He just wanted to be close to her both physically and emotionally. He was ready to finally see her again.

Miko walked out with Mai as she held her head down and stayed silent. She knew Mai could see through her lie of being fine but it pleased her that she wouldn't push her for details. On top of that she already knew how her day would go. An extremely slow ride back home on the bus and then her sitting alone looking at pictures from her past year till dinner. Then showering and bed.

Bulkhead waited and waited patiently until he finally picked her from the crowd. The moment he knew without a doubt it was her, he started up his engine and revved it in hoped that it would be loud enough for her to hear. He also began to cautiously move closer towards her along the sidewalk.

Revving one more time, he figured it was enough and once again sat there to wait.

Hearing a car engine rev, she looked up slightly. That was usually something that American guys do and not residents of Tokyo. Glancing around her eyes came across a green truck sitting on the curb like in her memories. She stood still for a minute looking at it in shock, blinking her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"Am I dreaming or is that truck really sitting there?" She asked turning to face Mai.

"No, Miko, that truck is really there, and it's huge... What's a truck like this doing here?" she asked, utterly confused.

The truck moved a bit more before revving again, the door opening invitingly. Just seconds before the door opened though, Bulkhead had remembered that number one rule that Arcee used to drive him into the ground and activated a temporary holoform.

"I gotta go," she said smiling bigger than she had in a long time.

She quickly hugged Mai and ran as fast as she could towards the truck with its door now open with tears falling from her face. She knew that Mai would question her about this when she showed up to school tomorrow but she didn't care. Jumping into the car, she leaned over the middle console and hugged the holoform as tight as she could, not caring that the door was open and everyone near could probably see them.

It took a moment for Bulkhead to figure out that to say, but after a moment he decided not to say anything at all and his holoform reached out with a sturdy arm to wrap it around the girl, attempting to pull her a little closer, however the positioning was a little awkward. After a moment more of awkward hugging, he decided that once again his pride didn't matter, all that mattered was her.

"Slag it, c'mere you." he said in his deep voice with a hint of playfulness before carefully pulling her into his holoform's lap for a more proper hug before realizing that the door was wide open.

A few people passing by glanced in before walking away with an adoring smile on their faces, and that was when he finally decided to close the door and make their reunion a bit more private. His holoform buried his face into her hair, knowing that he couldn't make this sort of contact in his true form, but that didn't matter. Nothing mattered more than her.

Placing her forehead to his shoulder, she couldn't hold it back anymore. She let her tears fall freely as she gripped him as close as she could. She was almost afraid that she would wake up and find that this was all a dream. But until then, she would enjoy every moment of being in his holoform's arms and sitting in his truck again. Feeling the tears wet his holoform's shirt, she turned her head slightly to push her eyebrows into his neck.

He figured that he had sat there long enough and decided it was time to drive while they dealt with their emotions. He waited until the last school bus was out of sight before beginning to move himself along. His holoform busied itself with making sure it held her close, as though he feared that letting her go would allow her to slip away from him again, and he just couldn't deal with that anymore.

Shifting its arms, the holoform moved to tuck her closer, curling her up a bit and making sure he had all of her, one massive hand paced at her back to rub soothing circles against her. He couldn't remember a time he'd been so happy, and now he didn't need to. He let out a chuckle as he continued to hold her, but it was a drastic change from the sound of his usual laughter. It was more soft and gentle, and it was full of emotions. Sadness from having waited so long to see her again, and happiness at being able to finally be with her and spend time with her again. Both were flowing through him, and he didn't know when it would stop.

"I missed you so much..." he whispered, lightly nuzzling the top of her head.

Looking up at him with a tear washed face, she smiled softly as her tears started to slow. She pushed her cheek to one shoulder of hers to wipe as much of her tears from it as she could before repeating the action with her other shoulder.

"I missed you too," she whispered back. "I didn't think I would EVER see you again."

It was at that moment that she realized that her life would be depressing, if not to the point of not worth living anymore without him in her life. They had been through so much together, to the point of almost loosing each other at times. But being torn apart with billions of miles of space separating them without a way to even contact each other seemed to be the worse possible thing ever.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this.

"Aww, c'mon Miko, I never said I was leaving you forever. You can't get rid of me that easily." he cooed in a teasing voice, lifting up a hand to cup her face and brush away any remaining moisture on her face.

"I've been planning on visiting you for a while, but it was hard to find a time to get away from the work we've had to do on Cybertron. Otherwise I would've been here sooner." He said as he pulled back into the road that led to the cliff the autobot had stood at before. He figured it would be a good place to spend time together, and he would stretch his legs.

He cradled the little human closer and reclined the driver's seat back slightly so she would be more comfortable. He sighed softly, for a moment feeling more at home with her than he did back on Cybertron.

"But you also said goodbye and left with no way to say anything to anyone for you to hear from me," she explained softly. "I didn't know what else to think."

Leaning against his holoform, she relaxed as he reclined. Today had certainly took a turn for the better and hoped with all her heart that it wouldn't end after tonight. But at the same time, at least she would have gotten to see him again and lift her spirits from where they were earlier today.

"You know, my friend is going to question me about this tomorrow," Miko said with a slight laugh. "I just ran off and left her standing on the sidewalk to ride home alone."

"But you heard what 'Bee said, right? We're just a spacebridge away. If you needed to see me again so badly, you could've just gave Ratchet a call, and he would've given us a call or something. I don't know, we could've figured something out." he said, his holoform holding her a bit tighter as they went over some sharp turns and steep inclines.

"And I don't know what to do about your friend. I'm gonna just say that's your problem." he laughed, slowing as he finally reached the cliffside. The moment he stopped, he opened the door, though he was a bit reluctant to let her go just yet. After a few more minutes of a brutal mental battle, he deemed it highly unlikely that she would disappear if he let her go.

Releasing his grip on her, he allowed her to exit if she wanted to, and he was itching to transform for her.

Standing up, she moved out of Bulkhead's truck and stood on the cliff, looking out over her city.

"Yeah, but do you know how much it costs to make an international call? It's not the same as me just picking up my phone and calling you or Ratchet while we were all in America," she explained as she turned to look at him. "And how did you find this place, anyway?"

"Heh, guess I didn't think about that..." he mumbled, deactivating his holoform as soon as she was out.

"This is where I was bridged. It's got a nice view, but I personally liked the one at our first base better."

Once again, memories began to invade his mind of the times spent in the base goofing off and lazing around when the Decepticons weren't up to anything. He sighed before returning his focus back onto Miko.

It was then that he began the process of transforming back into his bipedal form, being more slow and deliberate as he knew it was the first time Miko had seen him do this in a while.

"I agree. I like America better than Japan in all ways. There was so much more to do there."

Miko stood there with a giant smile on her face as her eyes glowed with amazement. It almost gave her chill bumps to watch his change from a vehicle to his bipedal mode. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she activated her camera, waiting for him to finish transforming so she could take a new picture to add to her collection. She could never have enough pictures.

Once he had finished and the last part clicked into place, he looked down at her and smiled, not knowing what else to say.

"So... Now what?" he asked, tilting his head before sitting down to be more at her level.

Miko held up her phone and snapped a picture of him quickly before speaking.

"I don't care what we do. I am just happy that I am getting to see you again," she said showing him the picture she just took.

"Heh, looks like you got my good side." he joked as he took a look. He then looked out over the horizon and took the time to appreciate the landscape. He remembered when he first landed on Earth and how he didn't really care for the planet, and now he called himself crazy for not seeing the appeal in it before.

"I missed this place. Cybertron is still nothing but a big hunk of metal, but it's getting there. Maybe one of these days we can get you one of those fancy space suits and I can drag you back to visit." he said.

"I would love to see Cybertron again. But this time, not in an air tight container. That wasn't fun," she admitted. "But I would love to see how it's changed."

Turning to follow his gaze, she looked out over her hometown. It was so alive with activity. But for her, she much rather be where she was or somewhere that wasn't as busy. Jasper had changed her more than anyone could know, but that wasn't to say that it wasn't for the best. She had grown up and learned a lot. She had protected those that she loved as well as the importance of acting like an adult even though she was still a few years from being one. She had traveled to places that she had only dreamed of visiting in the past and majority of the time, Bulkhead was by her side. Being here with him today helped her cheer back up and make her realize that she wasn't going to loose him.

"But I will tell you that I don't want you to leave. I want you to stay here, with me," she said softly hoping that he would hear, but also afraid of what he would say if he did hear her.

Just hearing her say those last few words left him nearly sparkbroken.

"Miko, you know I can't promise you that... I have duties back on Cybertron, and I need to be there with the rest of the team. Maybe once in a while we can schedule extended visits because I know Bee and Arcee are gonna wanna visit too. I just can't stay here forever." His voice was pained and as much as he wanted to tell her he wasn't leaving again, he just couldn't lie to her.

"I'll stay for two days, alright? That's what I told everyone back on Cybertron. That'll give us time to do whatever we want."

"I figured you couldn't stay," she said looking up at him. "But at least I get two days with you. But you have to promise that you will come by and see me more often."

She stepped towards Bulkhead and sat down on his ped as she pulled her legs up to her chest, a slight smile on her face.

"Wait, does that mean I get to skip school tomorrow to spend the day with you?"

"I promise. Here, how about I drop by for a few hours once a week? I know that's kinda what Bee's got going on with Raf. I just need to make sure it's not at the same time as his visits..." He muttered the last part mainly to himself before rolling his optics at her next question.

"Sure, if you can find a way to explain to your parents that you're ditching school to visit with an alien robot from the depths of outer space that happens to be just short of 30 feet tall. Good luck with that." he said, sending her a 'you're on your own' kind of grin.

"I would like you to stop by. Even if it's just to pick me up from school and to drive some before I head home. I will try harder at school, if that's what it takes," she said with a grin. "And as far as my parents, I am sure I can think of something. Maybe I will just tell them that a friend of mine from the exchange student program is going to be here for just tomorrow and I can't miss the visit," she said and then started to mutter to herself. "Technically you are a friend from America even though you were technically not from their either, but they don't have to know that."

"You're not just using me as an excuse to ditch class are you?" he asked in a playful tone, giving her a soft nudge with a finger.

Miko smiled as she pushed his finger knowing that it wouldn't do a thing. "And why would I? I wouldn't dream of ever doing something like that."

"Uh huh, suuurrrre. Just like you would never dream of using me to ditch detention. Why am I not believing you right now?" He rolled his optics and nudged her again. "When are you gonna learn to be more responsible? We've already had this conversation and now we're having it again?"

"I have learned some responsibility. I promise. Just let me skip this once. I promise that I will try harder at school after tomorrow," she said grinning knowing that if she tried harder at her school than she has been that would mean doing something other than staring at her open books and blank notebook paper.

"...Who are you, and what have you done with Miko?" he gave her a suspicious look before poking her a few more times as though checking to see if it was really her. "The real Miko couldn't care less about school."

"I am the real Miko," she smiled. "But if I have to try harder in school to let you give me permission to skip school for a day to be with you, I will."

Miko looked at him before hugging his finger. "Plus it wouldn't be too much added effort to try harder in school. Trust me."

"Hmm... I'll start you off easy and let you off with doing a few homework assignments. By the end of the next 3 weeks I want you passing all of your classes, no ditching unless I'm visiting. Do you understand?"

He gave her somewhat of a 'mom' look before stroking her side with his finger.

"Passing ALL of my classes?" she asked looking at him in a state of shock. "You really expect me to be passing all of my classes in 3 weeks? Do you know how much work that will take?"

Miko crossed her arms in a pouty way as she acted like a child would when they didn't like what one of their parents would say. It really didn't seem fair in some ways, but in others, she knew he was right.

"Okay, fine, I'll bump it to 7 weeks, but that's all. If you're not passing your classes, I'll push my visits to weekends meaning you'll have to spend all of your time at school. I'm serious Miko, I want you to be successful when you get older."

Figuring it was time to break away from serious subjects, he decided to change the topic. "So, have you heard from Raf or Jack?" he asked in a more casual tone, trying to figure out other topics to bring up in the back of his mind.

"Seven weeks is better," she nodded. "And no, I have not heard from either one of them. Do you think that we may get to travel and see them one day?"

Miko looked up at Bulkhead with a grin on her face. In her mind the idea of letting her parents think she was at school while she was in America played. It would be a pretty cool thing, but she knew that not many people would ever know the truth.

"Yeah. I'll have Ratchet set that up soon so we'll know when we'll be able to visit. So..." he trailed off. He had never been one for small talk, and as such, he was never really good at it. He figured for now he'd wait and see what happened.

Miko smiled knowing Bulkhead all too well. "What do you want to do today and tomorrow? We have more than 24 hours to do whatever we want to do."

"We could drive for a bit, but I don't want to deal with traffic. Or we could just relax for now, I've been working myself a little too hard back on Cybertron. Later on we can go off roading, how's that sound?"

"That sounds great," she said as she leaned back and made herself comfortable against her best friend.

She could sit there all day and all night against him and never be any happier than she currently was.

"So... we're relaxing? Fine by me. I need it. I think before I leave I'm gonna stop by to see Ratchet for repairs. I know I've got a few dents around.." he said, shifting ever so slightly so as to not disturb his companion.

"What did you do this time?" She asked hoping that he wasn't fighting without her.

"Remember how I told you I used to be a construction worker? Well, now that the war is over, we need to rebuild Cybertron. Guess who does most of the heavy lifting... Anyways, Did Arcee ever tell you about the time we first came to Earth? I tripped over a wire. I'm not graceful."

Miko laughed remembering that story. "She did tell me about that. I think you are perfect though. I would love to see what you build."

"Well, most of my work has actually been destroying old evidence of the war such as statues or command centers, salvaging materials that we can use to build better cities and unite us further. I'm sure you've already seen what I can do in regards to breaking stuff..."

"I have," she replied. "You are good at it too. I wish I could break stuff as good as you do."

Part of Miko was joking about her comment, but at the same time she wasn't. Bulkhead was great at what he did and she wished she could be just as good at the things she did.

"Eh, it's fun for a while, but it's also really tiring. My arms are still sore from just last week. I'm going to enjoy these days off..." he said, carefully moving back far enough to lean up against a rocky wall.

"I bet you will enjoy your off days," she said with a slight laugh as she moved to carefully climb up Bulkhead's leg and work her way up to his shoulder where she loved to sit.

The moment he felt her start to climb up a bit, a hand moved up to hover below her, an instinctual precaution the autobot always had to take whenever his charge decided to do something like this. He remained still as she worked her way up, only moving to reposition his hand should she fall.

"Careful..."

"I will be," she said as she smiled up at him and climbed a little higher. "You should know that by now. Plus you have a better view than I do down here."

Rolling his optics away, he figured she was close enough to her destination that she probably wasn't at risk of falling anymore. He pulled his hand away, but remained alert, his senses picking up on the precise positioning of her hands and feet to check if she had a secure enough grip.

"You know you could've just asked me to help you up..." he muttered, not even thinking to attempt to talk her out of doing her dangerous stunts.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" she said knowing that he would have helped her, but it wouldn't have been as fun.

Reaching his shoulder, she paused for a moment before getting comfortable against him again. Just like every other time she had sat on his shoulder, the view was much better than that where she normally stood.

"I'm gonna guess you've had more fun in the past year and a half than in your whole life. Personally I think you've had enough fun."

With her on his shoulder now, he had more freedom to move and shifted into a more comfortable position, the sun still well above the horizon, but it seemed obvious that it would soon begin to set. From their viewpoint, they would have an excellent view of the sunset.

"So, been up to anything else since we've left?" he asked casually, trying to spark up some more conversation.

"I have had more fun with you and the Autobots than I have ever had here. But as far as stuff that has happened since you left, not much. I came back to Japan, but it's not the same as when I left. The people I once knew have changed and I know I have changed. I hope that I haven't changed in bad ways though," she said knowing that she had worried her family and friends with the way she acted.

"I think we've all changed... I know Ratched has, I remember when he used to hate humans, now it's like he and Raf are inseparable. I went through a similar chance. I wasn't too fond of you guys either until Optimus put me in charge of keeping you safe. Now I miss your reckless decisions that nearly get us-mainly you-killed, and you're a lot more energetic than anyone on Cybertron, 'cept for 'Bee. He just won't stop talking."

Miko laughed as she thought about his words and all their reckless adventures in the past. Of all her adventures, the scariest one happened to be with Bulkhead when they got trapped in the cave. She truly thought that was going to be her last day. Thanks to Bulkhead's quick thinking, they made it out alive. After that scary adventure came the one with the Toxin.

"But we made it out of all of those situations alive," she replied to him. "And I can just imagine Bumblebee talking non-stop. I mean, who wouldn't? You can't talk for how many years and then you can again, the first thing I would want to do is talk and talk and let everyone know what is on my mind."

"The only one he likes to talk to is me though because he knows I won't give him a smack upside the head if he annoys me. He got a pretty decent hit from Arcee the other day, you should've seen his face."

"Why would she hit him?" Miko asked confused.

"Well, when Arcee is focusing on something, she doesn't like to be interrupted..." he said, hoping that what he implied was enough.

Miko nodded wanting to know what she was working on, but afraid to ask anymore. There were things about the Autobots that seemed strange to them and hard to understand, but that wasn't to say that she wanted to understand them.

"I understand," she said softly with a slight smile.

At that point, the sun was finally beginning to set. The autobot stared off the side of the cliff with longing, watching the sky slowly change color the closer the sun got to the horizon. He tilted his head towards the Japanese girl slightly, a habit he developed after growing closer to her, and kept looking outward.

"So, I figure I'm gonna need to bring you home soon, I bet your parents ae wondering where you are..." He brought the subject up with regret. he wanted to spend more time with her, but he also knew that she had to be home at some point. She couldn't just crash at base anymore, they had to think things through now. The decepticons no longer being a major threat to her didn't help their case, and even then, it wasn't as though she could just explain her friendship with a giant robot to her parents and expect them to just 'be cool with it'.

"I know you probably don't want to be away from me yet, but..." he trailed off, hoping she got the hint.

"But I don't want to go home," she said as she fought back tears. "I don't think my parents will be too worried about me. They hardly know I am home anyways."

She looked at him hoping with all her heart that he wouldn't make her go back this early. She rather spend the night with him. Even if that meant she slept in the seat of his truck form. That would make her perfectly happy.

He sighed, trying to think of an excuse. "Uh.. Maybe you could tell them you're spending the night at a friend's house or something."

She smiled as she picked up her phone and quickly started to text her parents. She wanted more than anything for them to say yes. That would mean more time with her best friend and more time to relax.

"That is okay with you right," she paused before sending the message just to make sure she wouldn't be pushing herself on the Cybertronian.

He shrugged. "Wouldn't have suggested it if it wasn't." he said.

Smiling she sent the text message and leaned back against Bulkhead as she waited for the reply.

"Thanks," she told him as she watched the sun setting over her city.

He simply nodded and watched as the sky then began to grow darker and more vibrant in color.

"You should see some of the sunsets we get on Cybertron..." he stated, shifting in position again to stretch his legs a little better. "So, if your parents do say yes, where do we want to go for the night?"

"What colors are your sunsets?" she asked with excitment. "And as far as where we go, I don't care. You could bring me where ever you want and I will be happy."

She heard her phone start playing one of their favorite metal songs. Opening it up, she read over her message.

"My mom said it's fine, but..." she paused for a moment to see how Bulkhead reacted.

"They tend to be more vibrant, I've seen more reds, oranges, and purples than what I see here."

His eyes lit up for a moment when they got the answer, but then he grew confused. "But what...?"

"I have to run by home and get some clean clothes," she laughed softly as she watched his confusion. "But a purple sunset would be beautiful."

Rolling his optics, he grinned and gave her a look before once again looking to the sky. A few stars were beginning to shine their way towards them, and he figured it was getting late enough. "Alright, do you need to get home now? If you do, we'll have more time to pick a spot." he said.

"If you don't mind," she said looking up at the stars thinking of Cybertron somewhere out there. "Do the stars look the same on your planet?"

"Our planet is a long ways away from yours. We have different stars by us than you do. Ask Ratched about this stuff, he's better with science-y stuff than I am."

He waited a moment more for the sun to set completely before holding a hand up for Miko. "I will not be letting you climb down by yourself, especially not in the dark." he said with a firm tone, making it known that this time she was going to have help.

"I figured you would say that."

Sighing softly, she stepped into his hand and sat down. She knew that it was dangerous for her to do it in the day and he wouldn't risk letting her get hurt so it shouldn't surprise her, but she loved to do it.

"Smart girl." he said before lowering her down to ground level to allow her to climb off.

Climbing off his hand, she turned to watch him in the dim light of the moon. Being outside the city meant that there was already a limited amount of light, but add a waxing cresent moon in that and it was hard to see anything.

Once she was safely on the ground, he stood back up and stretched for a moment before transforming back into his vehicle mode, providing them with a bit more light. He drove towards her until his side was facing her and he opened his door to allow her inside. His holoform was turned on just in case.

Smiling, she jumped into his truck and moved to lean up against his holoform. She knew that it wasn't real, but it was comfortable to be against.

"I am so excited my parents said yes!" she exclaimed.

He chuckled for a moment before moving forward to start the long drive back to her house. "Alright, I'm gonna need you to give me directions," he said, "and put your seat belt on..."

His holoform gave her a playful nudge before returning its 'attention' to 'driving'.

"Okay," she giggled as she moved over and buckled up. "You know I wouldn't do anything to get you in trouble," she laughed.

Leaning back she watched the roads as she waited to tell him where to turn.

"You've gotten me into plenty of trouble before." he said. "Let's see... You followed me in to rescue Fowler, you led us into that cave, need I go on?" he joked, his holoform grinning at her.

Smiling she glanced down. "Oh yeah... I forgot about those times. There was also the time I went with you and 'Jackie on the mission with Ultra Magnus. Remember that one?" she smiled and pointed to the light ahead. "Take a left here."

He followed her directions, making smoothe turns and groaning whenever he would get stopped by more than two red lights in a row. "You were a troublemaker."

"I know I am," she smiled. "You must not like city traffic. I am so use to it. That's why I loved Jasper so much."

"I hate traffic." he stated simply, driving onward until he puled up to her place, sighing with over-exaggerated relief as he did. "Alright, go grab what you need, I'll be right out here."

"You sure you don't want to go inside and meet my parents?" She smiled as she unbuckled.

"Never in a million years would I fit, and I doubt they'd take too well to my holoform. From what I know, situations with a male human spending time with a female are considered 'creepy'."

"I wouldn't say 'creepy' is the word to use. Inappropriate would be more like it," she said getting out and running into her house.

Grabbing a change of clothes and something loose to sleep in, she threw them in a bag along with her toothbrush and toothpaste. Running through the house, she yelled bye to her parents as she rushed out the door. Jumping into Bulkhead's truck form, she closed the door right about the time her father looked out the window.

"If you don't want to talk to them, I would leave now."

Understanding the message, he accelerated and they were gone. He figured that they would either head back to the cliff side or further out of town to avoid any chances of being seen by anyone. "Alright, where do we want to go?"

"Where do you want to go?" she asked pulling down her hair and letting it fall freely.

"Somewhere away from people." he said, driving much faster when they reached a highway, but remaining under the speed limit, just barely pushing it instead.

"Well if you want outside the city, I guess we could go to Mount Takao. It's about 50 minutes by train from here, but away from people and the city. If you don't want to go that far, there are other places," she told him.

"If you're up for a long drive, I am too." he said, taking a moment to make sure he was going the right direction before finally remembering he had a GPS system. He turned the heat up a little to make sure she wasn't cold, figuring it out for himself that it was going to be a little chilly.

"I am fine with a drive, It's with you so I don't see why I wouldn't be okay with it," she smiled as she brushed her hair. "Sorry. I had to let my hair down. After a while of it being up, it sometimes hurts my head."

"Do what you need to do to get comfortabe, it's going to be a long drive." he said. "Let me know if I can do anything to make the ride easier for you."

"I don't think there is anything you can do to make me happier than I am now," she smiled pulling out her phone.

She had turned it on vibrate earlier and had just felt it going off. Seeing that Mai had messaged her, she closed her phone and opted to ignore it for the time being.

Once again he shrugged and his holoform turned its attention to her. He felt he was far enough away from people to need to give the illusion that he was actually driving a vehicle. He reached over to mess up her hair.

Miko laughed as she leaned into him and smiled.

"What was that for, Bulkhead?"

"No reason." he said, reaching over and doing it again. He then got a rather devious smirk on his face before reaching over to scoop her up in his arms and somehow get her to the back seat, deciding he would need more room. He then began to tickle her. He hadn't been so playful with her in a while, and it felt nice to just relax and not worry about being judged with how they interacted. While 'Bee and Raf could be a bit more carefree since they were practically children, he had his pride to take care of.

Right now though he just couldn't care less as he continued to 'attack' her.

Rolling as she laughed and 'tried' to get away from him, her hands went to grab at his hands and 'try' to pull them away. She knew it would be a lost cause, but no matter what, when you are tickled, you always try. Feeling tears fall from her face, she laughed harder and she tried to tell Bulkhead to stop, but not a single sound other than uncontrollable laughter would leave her lips.

Seeing that she was having a hard time coping with his menacing attacks, he pulled away and let her calm down, chuckling softly. "You like to think you're tough, but you couldn't even keep me off of you." he teased, poking her softly before leaning back in the seat to assume a 'relaxed' position.

"Yeah but... I wasn't expecting... you to tickle me," she panted as she tried to calm her breathing. "Even the toughest people have weak points. And most humans are ticklish."

Leaning back against his holoform, she relaxed.

"But you can't tell Jack or Raf that. I would never hear the end of it."

He playfully waved her off for a moment before looking down at her with a fond expression he was sure none of the other 'bots had seen from him in many years. It was full of as much, if not more emotion than what was normally seen in such a gaze from an actual human. He didn't know what it was with her that made him act this way, but he knew it was special.

"Getting tired yet?" he asked.

"Slightly, but I don't want to go to bed. If I do, then I may wake up and you not be here," she explained. "The first day you left I knew that when I woke up it would be a dream, but it wasn't. And with every day, the past year seems more and more like a dream till today. I don't want to go back to that."

"I'm not gonna leave you this time Miko, not right now. I promise." he murmured to her gently, making sure that he got his point across to her. He wasn't leaving her yet, and if he did, he would let her know that it wasn't for forever.

Nodding, she leaned into him and closed her eyes. She wasn't expecting to fall asleep, but she did quickly.

"So, how are w-"

He was about to keep the conversation going when he noticed that she was rather limp. Doing a quick scan, he concluded that she had fallen asleep.

"Hmm, seems like you were more tired than you let on..." he almost whispered before carefully lifting her up into his lap again, holding her close and secure. He still feared that if he let her go for too long, she would disappear again.

After he finally arrived at the mountain, he decided to remain in his vehicle mode, not wanting to wake her lest he feel guilty about it. Instead he just kept his holoform on and watched over her protectively as she slept, not caring to do anything else. He was far from bored though, he was happier than he'd been in a long time. He had Miko again, even if it was for a short time, and she had him.

He shifted to lean back a bot more, and every once and a while he would stroke her hair or her back just to remind himself that she was still there and that he wasn't seeing things. After long enough, he finally decided to call it and once he made sure she was comfortable, he himself powered down to get some rest.

**Author's Note:**

> Just so everyone knows, this will be updated quickly. I have over 20,000 words typed up for this already, but couldn't post it as one chapter.


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